Waterloo; I'm IN, baby!

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

I haven't played one of these, but nearly three grand for essentially a copy of a $12.75 (1933 prices), guitar, 'authentic' glue blobs and all, seems an awful lot of money.

And yet, when you finally do play one, we'd sure like to hear what you have to say then.

[Borderdon]

Fine looking guitar, I'm hoping to try one, but so far, they're pretty scarce in these parts.

Originally Posted by upsidedown

Are the glue globs a little kitschy? Yes, I think so. But otherwise the build quality is outstanding. The nut is cut perfectly, its intonation is on the money and the overtones...am I supposed to be getting overtones from a ladder braced guitar?

Exactly this ^. There's a little squeeze-out under one of the braces on my WL12, but I don't recall ever seeing any glue "blobs" on it or any of the eight or nine Waterloos that I've played.

And department-store guitars of the 1930s certainly didn't have the even-grained spruce top or solid flame maple back and sides that my WL12 has, nor the handmade quality described above.

[PieterK]

Originally Posted by zmf

Might seem expensive, but you can view the Waterloos as the Japanese Miata being the well-designed, reliable replacement for the cantankerous old British Lotus Elan. Finally a great roadster that's fun to drive and you don't have to worry about it breaking down on you.

That is so apt!

[brancher]

Originally Posted by Swamp Yankee

At the same time there's a marked decrease in the value of sour grapes.

[emoji6] [emoji106]

Originally Posted by AndrewG

https://www.projectmusic.net/waterloo-wl-12-20352-p.asp

[Looburst]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

And yet, when you finally do play one, we'd sure like to hear what you have to say then.

Yes and it seems your thinking is not focused on the right stuff, AndrewG.
By that I mean, try thinking in terms of the fact that your getting a Collings built guitar that yes, has the glue globs here and there but the intonation, construction, feel and everything else is Collings!

[Twinpeaksbirds]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

Are the glue globs a little kitschy? Yes, I think so. But otherwise the build quality is outstanding.

Agreed. My WL-14LTR has glue squeeze-out, which seems a little out of character with the rest of the build-quality. The fit and finish is sublime, miles ahead of the Gibson LG-2 that I have (which I have fallen head-over-heels in love with, but that's a different story ).

[stephenT]

Build with high quality woods by the same builders who build Collings guitars,.. around $2k new for a lot of models, I think Waterloos are a bargain.

It's a fun guitar to play and that's as good as it gets.

[DukeX]

From Bill Collings:

The price came about more as a result of the sound I was after, rather than trying to hit a certain price point. Making a guitar that is accessible to more players is a good thing, but that wasn't the reason I wanted to do it. The goal was to capture a particular sound by making the guitars like they were actually made back in the depression, and that meant stripping the process down to the bare essentials.

The challenge was to figure out how to put less hours in the guitar and still make it a great guitar. The hours that do go in it are very skilled hours, but it's probably one third of what it might take to build a very high end guitar where you obsess over every detail. This means you don't clean up your glue mess. You don't worry so much about sanding the braces. You forget about trying to make a guitar with a mirror finish. You put craftsmanship in the guitar, but only where it really matters. It ends up being a no-frills utilitarian guitar, but the tone and the intrinsic value are still there.

I knew going into it that it would be a departure from Collings Guitars, but it was an area that I really wanted to explore. Not all of today's players have seen these old guitars. Not everyone is searching for them, so they're not finding them. I think people are missing out on something unique and different. Some of the originals are out there, but they are really hard to find in good shape. So much so, that you will usually have more cost in the repair work than the cost of a new guitar. So having this guitar at an affordable price allows you to get some of that Americana history in a newer instrument that will last a lifetime. The lifetime of most of the originals is over, unfortunately.

[upsidedown]

Originally Posted by DukeX

From Bill Collings:

The price came about more as a result of the sound I was after, rather than trying to hit a certain price point. Making a guitar that is accessible to more players is a good thing, but that wasn't the reason I wanted to do it. The goal was to capture a particular sound by making the guitars like they were actually made back in the depression, and that meant stripping the process down to the bare essentials.

The challenge was to figure out how to put less hours in the guitar and still make it a great guitar. The hours that do go in it are very skilled hours, but it's probably one third of what it might take to build a very high end guitar where you obsess over every detail. This means you don't clean up your glue mess. You don't worry so much about sanding the braces. You forget about trying to make a guitar with a mirror finish. You put craftsmanship in the guitar, but only where it really matters. It ends up being a no-frills utilitarian guitar, but the tone and the intrinsic value are still there.

I knew going into it that it would be a departure from Collings Guitars, but it was an area that I really wanted to explore. Not all of today's players have seen these old guitars. Not everyone is searching for them, so they're not finding them. I think people are missing out on something unique and different. Some of the originals are out there, but they are really hard to find in good shape. So much so, that you will usually have more cost in the repair work than the cost of a new guitar. So having this guitar at an affordable price allows you to get some of that Americana history in a newer instrument that will last a lifetime. The lifetime of most of the originals is over, unfortunately.

That's cool, Duke. Thanks for the share.